Of Monsters and Men (SI)
by BC14
Summary: A teenage guy finds himself trapped in a fictional hellhole. With no way out, and a truly frighting power, all he can do is survive. Self Insert.
1. Adapt 1-1

**A/N: Hello everyone! Welcome to my first story on , I will admit that I am not the best writer, however I will try my best to make this story as enjoyable as possible.**

 **Anywhoodle, let's go!**

* * *

 **Adapt 1.1**

* * *

I groaned as my alarm started to go off. _Ugh. I feel like shit, but I better get up._

I pulled my arm out from under the covers and moved it over to my bedside table, my hand searching for my mobile phone so I could turn off the alarm.

After about a minute of fumbling around without success, I slowly pulled myself up and opened my eyes, which were greeted by a phone that looked nothing like my phone.

 _Wait. What the heck?_

I grabbed the phone, and attempted to turn off the alarm. It took me a couple of tries, however I finally figured out how to get the damn thing to stop buzzing.

I stared at it for a bit longer, trying in vain to remember where the hell this strange phone had come from, but to no avail. I placed the phone back down on the bedside table and looked around the room.

It looked like my phone wasn't the only thing that had changed. This was not my bedroom; I could tell by the distinct lack of messiness. I was resting in a large, king-sized bed in the corner of the room. There was also a table with an old-style laptop and printer resting on it, a closet, a chest of drawers, a large mirror and an office chair. _Where the hell am I?_

Scared, and somewhat curious, I slowly slid out of the bed. I was dressed in some kind of superhero pajamas, but I didn't recognize the figures that periodically dotted the pants and shirt.

I also noticed that I was a lot thinner.

I'll admit, I wasn't a very fit guy. Not really fat either, just a tad bit too chubby. But now as I walked over to the mirror and looked myself over, I could see that a lot of it was gone. I didn't have abs or anything like that, but I definitely had a lot more muscle than I once did.

Why the heck would someone kidnap me or something, and then give me plastic surgery?

This situation was starting to get stranger and stranger, but I had something far more pressing on my mind.

Where the hell was I?

* * *

I stared at the small pile of items next to my laptop that I had found scattered around the room. A wallet, keys, and a few important-looking documents, all of which I had never seen before in my entire life. _Maybe there was some ID in the wallet or something?_

Well, there was only one way to find out.

I picked up the wallet and flipped it open to reveal exactly what I was looking for. Huh.

It was fake, but it had some very important information on it, such as my "new" name - Nathan Howard -, my date of birth - 14th of March, 1996 - and where I was born, Brockton Bay, New Hampshire.

 _Wait... Brockton Bay?!_

Well, looks like I figured out where I was. Of all the places I could have been sent to by this random omnipotent asshole, I was trapped in Worm.

 _Yaaaaaaay._

Oh, sure, the story was pretty good and all, but actually living there? Not even counting the Endbringers and Scion's eventual genocidal spree, things were really, really shitty. The Slaughterhouse Nine, the various gangs, the Yangban and NAZIS just to name a few of the fucked-up things out there.

There wasn't much else in the wallet, just a bit of cash and a few cards. Placing wallet down, I grabbed my phone and checked the date – 1st of March, 2011 -. Wasn't Taylor's first night out in costume just a month away? Well, at least I got given some breathing room.

Among the documents was a birth certificate, and some kind of school transfer form. Apparently, I had transferred from Clarendon High to Arcadia. I was slightly disappointed that I wouldn't be able to help Taylor at Winslow, but then again, it was probably far too late for me to make a difference on my own.

There wasn't much else to look at. The keys were just to the small house itself, and the rest of the documents didn't have anything particularly interesting on them. I sat down in the chair and booted up my laptop. I wouldn't start school at Arcadia until Monday on the seventh, which left me with a whole week to burn.

* * *

About two hours later, I had pretty much confirmed that I was in Worm. The first thing I checked for was PHO, which I quickly signed up to. I browsed through various threads, and thankfully, only a small number of things seemed different from the story.

Both the E88 and the ABB had more capes than in canon. There was a bit on Nazi capes, and even less on the Asian, but after a fair bit of looking around both on PHO and the Wiki, I knew their powers.

On the Empire's side was Panzer and Skadi. Panzer was a mid-tier brute, who could reduce the damage of any attack that hit him, while Skadi could create and throw explosive balls of blue fire at her enemies. Nothing extremely painful to fight, however they could still do a lot of damage.

The Azn Bad Boys only had one new cape, that went by the name of Tamashi. From what I had read, she only seemed like a low-level stranger with the ability to turn invisible. It could be possible that she had another ability, as it wouldn't suit Lung to recruit weaklings, however I didn't know for certain.

I was pretty certain that Bakuda had been recruited before Lung's first capture, which meant in total the ABB only had four capes, and the Empire had, what, over fifteen?

Jesus, how the heck did the Merchants and the ABB survive when they had that many? Kaiser really was incompetent, it seemed.

Speaking of the Merchants, how the hell had they survived this long? Sure, they had a few hundred unpowered goons but their capes were rubbish. It's amazing that even the Protectorate hadn't gotten rid of them yet.

Ugh.

* * *

I spent the rest of the day writing down everything I could remember about canon and the timeline of Worm.

 _Thank god for those Worm threads on Spacebattles._

I really hoped that I had some kind of protection against thinkers. This stuff alone would be like a goldmine to them, and if someone like Coil got to them…

Fucking thinkers.

I grabbed the stack of paper and placed it in the bottom of the chest of drawers, under a pile of folded clothing. Not the best place to hide them, but it's not like putting them in a safe would be any better.

Hell, wasn't Tattletale able to hack into the PRT's video feeds? A safe wouldn't even slow her down. I sighed and leaned back in my chair, thinking.

Why, of all places, did I get dropped here? Sure, I liked the story and the many, many pieces of fan-fiction that followed, but what should I do? Let things go roughly the same way as canon, or try and intervene? I was already too late to try and do anything about the locker incident, but I could show up at the Lung fight and help out...

Wait.

Did I even have any powers?

I looked down at my hands. Surely, I would have been given something if I was going to be thrown into this hellhole? I closed my eyes and relaxed, waiting for something to happen.

* * *

Surprise surprise, nothing happened. Disappointed, I opened my eyes. _Perhaps my power can only be activated in a fight or something? God, if it's something like that I hope it comes with regeneration._

Maybe I could head on over to the ship graveyard and do power testing there? Obviously, the gangs and such would have people watching the area. All those wrecked ships were a goldmine for new tinkers, and it had a lot of stuff that could be used for target practice. I think I would go down there when it got darker outside.

For now, I pulled myself off the chair and made my way into the kitchen to get some food. The kitchen itself was small, with a fridge, microwave, a few cupboards and a small table to sit at. I opened up the fridge, and seeing that it was already filled with food, pulled out a TV dinner.

 _Yum._

* * *

It was just before midnight when I decided that the time was right to head on down to the boat graveyard.

The Graveyard itself, previously known as Lords Port, was the result of the collapse of the local industry and shipping. When the shipping companies saw what was happening they used their ships and effectively blockaded the port, staging a massive protest to try and make sure they didn't have to walk away empty handed. The peaceful protests gave way to violence and arrests, as the sailors refused to move the ships out of the harbor.

This resulted in the Boat Graveyard being created; around fifty old and rusted ships that dotted an entire section of the coastline. Different cargo and container ships of all sizes and models laid at rest there, a goldmine of metals and materials, which made it not only a popular dumping ground, but also a place where people scavenged for parts and electronics to sell.

And, due to this, it was also a place that was dangerous for Tinkers.

The gangs knew what was in the Graveyard, and often had men watching the area to see if there might be any new tinkers that might be going to the Graveyard often to scavenge for parts to create their devices.

Even if the gangs did come down on me for going to the Graveyard, I didn't know for certain if I was a cape.

I looked through my closet and grabbed some clothes. A pair of dark blue jeans, a long-sleeved black shirt and a black hoodie. I also grabbed a scarf that I wrapped around my face to protect my identity and a pair of gloves.

Not the greatest costume, but it would have to do.

I could have grabbed my wallet as well, but I decided against it. If I got mugged, I didn't want to lose anything.

 _Well, here goes nothing._

* * *

The city was silent as I made my way through the docks. What was once home to a thriving shipping industry was now nothing but a large stretch of ruined and abandoned buildings. No doubt the gangs had claimed a few of them for their own as well.

I moved swiftly and carefully, sticking to the shadows when I could hear gang members or druggies nearby. The area was Merchant territory from what I could tell by the gang-tags that littered the area, and I didn't really feel like getting mugged.

To the north of the Docks was the trainyard, where containers from the ships would have been transported from the bay to other cities. Now, it was a lot like the graveyard, filled with old and broken down trains. It would eventually become the home of the cape Trainwreck, but for now it was probably also Merchant territory.

Eventually, I made my way past the Lord Street Market. One of the more popular areas in the Docks, the area was lined with stalls that could be rented and small shops that sold everything and anything. From charms and bracelets to overstock from the bigger stores that had been discounted by about 30%, the marketplace was the place to go if you weren't rich enough to spend a day at the boardwalk.

There was less of a gang presence around the market, as it was one of the areas patrolled by the Protectorate due to the large amount of people who would come down to buy and sell things. Even so, many stores still paid protection money to the ABB or E88.

And just past the market, was the Boat Graveyard itself.

As I entered, I couldn't help but feel awe as I looked at the massive container ships that had been run aground on purpose, and left to rust. The metal that the ships were made of alone was probably worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, how could they let this stuff just sit here and not do anything about it?

Off in the distance, I could see the Protectorate Headquarters in Brockton Bay, nicknamed the "Rig" due to the fact it was built on top of an old, abandoned oil rig. The place was a literal fortress, with defence turrets, a giant bubble force field and even an inter-city missile defence system, which for some reason, they _never_ used.

Seriously. If the villains were holed up in an abandoned warehouse, don't send in the heroes that could be injured. Just blow the place up!

Ugh. To be fair, it was more the fact that the PRT and the Protectorate were obsessed with PR than incompetence. And there was the fact that most of the higher-ups were complete assholes.

Now, where was I?

Power testing, that's it.

I made my way over to one of the abandoned ships, and placed my hand on its rusted metal surface. It was cool to the touch.

Any chance of a mover rating was out, since I didn't move any faster than normal when I was making my way here.

I clenched my hand into a fist and drew my arm back. _Maybe I'm a brute?_

With that in mind, threw my fist forwards, straight into the side of the container ship.

* * *

Turns out, I did not have a brute rating.

 _Note to self, do not punch hard things._

My hand had turned red and was hurting profusely, with a few small scrapes and cuts that bled a little. I rubbed it with my other hand, trying to ease the pain as I turned around and slumped against the ship.

Thank goodness that I had gotten my tetanus shots.

 _Did I even get any powers at all?_

It was a frightening thought. Did I really get sent here by a ROB with absolutely no way to defend myself? No, they wouldn't be that cruel.

Right?

I sat there for a few more moments before I noticed that my hand had stopped hurting.

When I looked down at it, it looked completely normal, as if nothing had happened to it at all. Maybe this was my power? Some kind of healing effect or regeneration from the looks of it. Internally I was cheering.

I had superpowers.

Fuck yeah.

I jumped up on my feet and turned around to face the rough metal surface of the ship again, intent on punching it one more time to see if the same thing would happen.

Like before, I drew my fist back and let it fly. However, this time nothing happened.

My hand had hit the metal surface, I felt it. But it didn't hurt. Startled, I looked at my fist again, and I saw that there wasn't even a scratch.

Huh.

Well, _that's_ weird.

* * *

 **A/N: Can anyone guess which canon characters power Nathan's is based off?**


	2. Adapt 1-2

**Adapt 1.2**

* * *

I spent about half an hour more at the Boat Graveyard punching things before heading back home. It had been a somewhat beneficial outing, as now I was aware that I did have powers. However, I couldn't figure out how they worked.

After the first punch I thought it was just a regenerative ability that healed me if I got hurt, which was nice, but after I punched the ship again and didn't feel any pain, I was beginning to have my doubts.

Maybe it really was some kind of brute rating, like I took less and less damage the more I got hurt?

Powers are weird.

At least it wasn't _that_ bad. I think I would have screamed if I got a power like Scapegoats. "Oh hey, let me take that cancer away from you and give it to myself!"

As I was making my way back to my house through the dark streets, a shape stepped out of the darkness. He wore the colours of the Merchants, of course, and was wielding a small, sharp kitchen knife.

Shit, I didn't see him, and now he was going to try and mug me.

Wonderful.

He moved to block my way forwards, and brought the knife out in front of him. I noticed that his hand was trembling as he glared at me with bloodshot eyes.

"This is Merchant territory, boy. Hand over your wallet and phone."

 _Or else_ , I thought.

If I was back home, I would have probably given him my wallet and phone then and there, in fear of being stabbed by the dirty murderhobo.

But then again, that was _before_ I got superpowers.

"I'm sorry, but I don't have my wallet or phone on me." I replied, trying to make him go away.

He took a step towards me. "I don't think I believe you, boy."

From the look of things, it seems I won't be able to talk my way out of this one.

Ah well, I gave him a chance.

I rushed towards the goon, both my hands out to try and grab the knife off him before he could stab me with it. I might have had a regeneration power, but that still didn't mean I was invincible.

My attacker, startled by my choice to run at him tried to pull the knife out of my reach, but he acted too late. My hands latched on around the hand he was using to hold the knife.

"Fucker!" He swore as he tried to rip his hand out of my grip in vain, however I would not release my grip so easily. He brought up his other hand and started clawing at my arms, his dirty nails digging into my skin. My eyes begin to tear up as I try and resist the pain.

And that was when something weird started happening/

As the long, bleeding gashes the man had left in my arm began to close up and heal, I could feel something else happening in my body. It felt like there were bugs crawling under my skin. I let go of the Merchant and watched as my skin started turning darker.

The mugger watched, eyes wide as my wounds healed. He dropped the knife and started to back away.

"S-shit, it's a cape!" He yelled as he turned around and ran back the way he came. As I watched him run off, I noticed that there had been other people hiding in the dark to back up the first guy, but now that he had started running, they backed off as well.

Well.

That solves that problem.

* * *

Despite the earlier mishap, the rest of the trip home was uneventful. That didn't stop me from being more careful, however. I would really have to pay a lot more attention if I wanted to visit the Boat Graveyard again, and leave the thinking to when I got back home.

I only relaxed once I made it through the front door and locked it behind me. Shit, even with my powers that was still a scary situation.

If something as simple as a mugger could scare me, how would I be able to deal with actual capes trying to hurt me?

I made my way to my bedroom, pulled off my hoodie and slumped down into my chair.

So, let's look at what I have so far.

I have powers. Specifically, a regeneration power. However, when my powers activated last time I had the feeling that is was doing something else other than healing me. I stood up and walked over to the mirror.

Whatever my power had done to me, it had made my skin colour actually turn _darker_. Instead of pale and white, it now looked like I had a full-body tan. I gave my arm a squeeze, and I swear it actually felt harder.

Weird.

Didn't Aegis have a power like this? What was it called, Adaptable biology? Now THAT was a weird power. Apparently, if you blinded the guy he would then somehow be able to see through his own _skin._

His entire body was literally a _giant eye_.

As cool as it sounds, I don't think my power was similar to his. For one, I could still see out of both my eyes.

Hmm. If it wasn't Aegis, whose power could it be?

Maybe Crawler?

That… actually kinda fits. His power was called Adaptable regeneration. Basically, if you hurt him with something, he would then regenerate the damage and become resistant or outright immune to what had hurt him.

It does make sense with what happened at the Graveyard, when my first punch hurt like hell but my later punches didn't. Did that mean that my body had also adapted during the mugging attempt? That would explain why my body had changed so drastically.

It also probably meant I would grow tentacles at some point.

 _Yaaaaaaay._

* * *

I needed a cape name. If I was going to go out and fight crime, I would have to be called something, after all. Plus, if I didn't choose soon, PHO would make one up for me, and they don't have a particularly good track record for their names.

I decide to go with naming myself after a mythical beast from Greek myth. If I was going to end up as a giant monster at some point it would certainly fit the part, and the Greeks used _a lot_ of monsters in their stories. At least one of them wouldn't be taken, right? _Now, let's see…_

Oh, so many to choose from.

Wendigo? Orthrus? Nemea? Manticore? Those were some good names. I start writing up a list on a piece of paper.

Echidna? Nope, that was what Noelle was going to get called.

Cynocephalus? Too long, really. I would prefer a name that was short and would describe myself and my power fairly well.

Basilisk and Chimera were also pretty good. I finish the list and pull up PHO and the Cape wiki. I would prefer to choose a name that hadn't been taken by anyone else yet. Some heroes and villains got really touchy over that stuff.

* * *

I had narrowed down my picks to two choices. Wendigo was being used by a Stranger cape up in Vancouver, while Basilisk and Manticore were in use by active capes in Greece. I also nocked Nemea off the list because it was the name of an actual place in Greece, and not just the Lion. That just left Orthrus and Chimera.

In the end, I chose Orthrus, the name of the hound who protected Geryon the giant's cattle, who was killed by Hercules in his quest to complete the 12 labours. See, it even had backstory!

Now _that_ was a good cape name.

Now that was out of the way, I could focus on other things, like what I wanted to do with my cape identity. Sure, I was going to go solo for a bit, but eventually people were going to start trying to recruit me.

Should I join the Wards? The pay was pretty good, but that was just about the only plus. I would have to deal with the _dreaded_ PR crew who would probably hate me with a passion once I started turning into a giant monster, and I wouldn't be able to fight any of the big threats.

My power literally _depended_ on me getting my ass kicked, but the Wards never got called in to any of the big fights against Lung or other powerful villains.

I put the Wards down as a maybe. When I start going to Arcadia I could meet them out of costume and see what they were like.

Alternatively, I could also be a mercenary. Faultline's group was filled with mostly Case-53 capes, so after a few fights I would probably fit right in. My only problem was that anyone, including villains could hire them. Given the fact I wanted to go the path of the good guys, that didn't really agree with me.

I could be a solo mercenary, but I had literally no idea where to start. The PRT/New Wave/Whoever could hire me to fight bad guys, while the E88/ABB/Whoever could hire me to fight other villains or gangs.

Yeah, that could work.

I sat there thinking about it for a few moments before pushing it all to the back of my head. I would tackle that hurdle when it was the right time to do so.

Bored, I began to start outlining what I would do for the rest of the day. I had some vague plans outlined in my head, but I would need to go buy some stuff to really make it happen.

* * *

The Boardwalk was one of the only places in Brockton Bay that actually didn't look that bad. It made up one of the few tourist attractions in the city, and as such, it was filled with shops, cafes and quite a few good-looking beaches. It was a startling contrast to the dirty and thug-filled streets that made up most of the city.

Surprisingly, there was little to no crime in this part of the city due to the private security that patrolled the area. More like hired enforcers than real security, they made the Boardwalk a hostile environment for anyone who didn't look sufficiently "Rich enough" to shop or visit the area.

It was also one of the few areas in the city that New Wave still patrolled. Honestly, it was surprising that they were still running even though they were primarily funded by donations. Amy and Victoria Dallon, Panacea and Glory Girl respectively, also went to Arcadia along with the local Wards, which meant I would get to meet them next week as well.

I could _literally_ feel how much a pain in the ass handling those two would be.

I was, more or less, dressed up in a similar getup to the outfit I wore last night, with my black pants replaced with blue jeans and a more colourful hoodie, so that I wouldn't get kicked out by overzealous security. I had my scarf around my neck, but I could easily pull it up to cover most of my face if I had to.

To be fair, considering the state the city was in, the brutal methods that the Boardwalk enforcers were necessary to keep at least one area of the Bay safe from gang members and druggies.

They couldn't do much about capes though.

I stop walking as soon as I heard the sound of bricks and concrete smashing. Some of the people around me look around in confusion and shock, while others turned around and ran for safety. I turned around to face the area where I heard the noise come from as a bright yellow and white shape flew out from a nearby alleyway, before slamming into the ground hard enough to crack the asphalt.

…

Waitaminute, isn't that Glory Girl?


End file.
